Twitter Shuts Out Third-Party Ads to Protect Promoted Tweets

Twitter May 24 said it won't let third parties inject paid tweets into a timeline on any service that leverages the Twitter API. The microblog's revised developer terms of service also say third parties must pay Twitter when its content is leveraged in an ad sale. The idea is to protect the Twitter platform and, specifically, Twitter's nascent Promoted Tweets ad business. The move comes after Twitter alienated some developers with its Twitter for iPhone, Android and BlackBerry apps.

Twitter May 24 sent out another warning to developers by vowing not to allow
any third- party company or individual to inject paid tweets into a timeline on
any service that leverages the Twitter API.
The move is outlined in these revised developer terms of
service, which also stipulate that third parties must pay Twitter when its
content is leveraged in an ad sale.

Twitter is protecting its new advertising business with these moves,
explained Twitter COO Dick Costolo in a long
blog post.

"As our primary concern is the long-term health and value of the
network, we have and will continue to forgo near-term revenue opportunities in
the service of carefully metering the impact of Promoted Tweets on the user
experience," Costolo said.
"It is critical that the core experience of real-time introductions and
information is protected for the user and with an eye toward long-term success
for all advertisers, users and the Twitter ecosystem."
Twitter April 13 launched Promoted Tweets, which airs ads from Best Buy, Bravo, Red
Bull, Sony Pictures, Starbucks, Virgin America and other partners as regular
tweets at the top of relevant Twitter.com search results pages.

Eventually, these ads will be offered in the timeline. Users can reply to,
retweet and favorite Promoted Tweets just as they can regular tweets.
By denying in-stream ads from providers such as Ad.ly, 140 Proof and any
others who choose to provide them, Twitter is seeking to protect advertisers
who want to promote themselves on the popular microblog, which boasts more than 100 million users.
"Third-party ad networks are not necessarily looking to preserve the
unique user experience Twitter has created," Costolo explained. "They
may optimize for either market share or short-term revenue at the expense of
the long-term health of the Twitter platform."
By way of example, Costolo said third-party ad networks may seek to maximize
ad impressions and click-through rates even at the risk of alienating Twitter
users.
He also noted that Twitter has to bear the costs of maintaining the network
everyone uses, including protecting the platform from spam and building out the
service. Third-party advertisers don't have to pay these costs, which Twitter
believes is unfair.
Twitter is instead encouraging those who want to advertise to do so around
the timelines on many Twitter clients. "We don't believe we always need to
participate in the myriad ways in which other companies monetize the
network."
He also promised Twitter Annotations will yield additional business
opportunities on the Twitter platform later this year. Search
Engine Land
has posted a FAQ about the new rules on third-party ads here.
This isn't the first time Twitter has made moves to better its business that
could alienate third-party programmers.
The microblog acquired Atebits and subsequently made that startup's Tweetie
application Twitter for iPhone. Twitter also released BlackBerry and Android apps.
Such are the drawbacks of Twitter opening its API
so early before putting into place all of the pieces it deems important. Chalk
them up to growing pains.